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This research has had transformational impacts: systematically providing evidence of the state of cultural heritage policies concerning nine countries in South East Europe; identifying the need for management tools to integrate inventories, environmental and spatial planning, heritage protection and funding mechanisms for projects to enable sustainable use of heritage resources; helping shape a Council of Europe regional programme; creating the framework for legal/administration reform requests by the states concerned; and has led to technical assistance actions, jointly funded by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, including monitoring to ensure the institutionalisation of methodologies in national policies and strategies.
Kyriakidis's research has had impact on policy-makers within both national and local government. This has involved a scaling up of his impact activities that were based in Gonies (Crete) to include both national policy-makers and international organisations. As a result, he has become an influential international authority on the development of greater public engagement with heritage sites (including Pompeii), and on public policy in Greece. His research has resulted in a shift in policy at the Athens University of Economics and Business, which now engages with the provision of training in Heritage Management and is branching out from exclusively finance-based education. His CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses have reached out to the commercial sector (particularly Leica).
2The European funded ISAAC Project aimed to enhance the relationship between heritage and tourism in urban destinations through a novel Information Communication Technology (ICT) environment. The platform provided integrated and user-friendly tourism e-services facilitating an advanced access to European cultural heritage assets. Within this project the Sunderland team worked with a wide community of stakeholders to identify intangible aspects and stories worthwhile to be told within a destination. These stories were integrated in an interpretative strategy independent of, but aligned with destinations' current marketing and positioning strategies. The specific impact focuses on three destinations, Leipzig, Amsterdam and Genoa.
The impact of this research has been to change architectural conservation practice to utilize plants as agents of conservation rather than remove them from ruins and other heritage sites. The impact stems from new scientific evidence based on integrated laboratory and field studies carried out at the School of Geography and the Environment in Oxford, by Professor Viles and her team, demonstrating that plants and other organic growths can be protective and contribute to successful and cost-effective conservation of heritage sites. The impact has been realised through close collaboration with English Heritage throughout the research process.
This research in Libya has had several significant impacts with wide reach for a range of different groups, both national and international. It has made fundamental contributions to the archaeological mapping of Libya (a country of extraordinary archaeological richness but still poorly recorded), to the development of typologies of sites and artefacts, and to dating frameworks. This has delivered major related impacts for management of cultural heritage by the Libyan Department of Antiquities (DoA), and for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and archaeological mitigation work by oil companies in the Libyan desert. There have been additional benefits through dissemination of new historical models, as well as protection of heritage sites during the 2011 conflict.
Heritage is a key component of contemporary urban regeneration policies. Rebecca Madgin's research is embedded with, and informed by, knowledge-exchange with public bodies. Her historically-informed and methodologically innovative approach to the heritage of the built environment empowers a diverse range of user groups — local councils, public bodies and third-sector `heritage' organizations — to develop a more sophisticated knowledge of the ways in which local communities understand and value the buildings and spaces that they inhabit. Specifically, the case study shows how Madgin's work has directly informed the planning policies of two organisations: Edinburgh World Heritage Trust and Leicester City Council.
The origins of this category and critical concept lie in Dr Robertson's interest in the way local communities have sought to put the past to use in the present. A strong interest in public histories in the Scottish Highlands, both individual and communal, has brought significant opportunities for collaboration with, and dissemination to, local history organisations and other community groups. Further impact includes: the curating of an art exhibition; engaging with practitioners to explore the ways in which memories of flooding can be utilised in future resilience; contributions to debates on land and identity in the Scottish Highlands.
Elizabeth Graham's model of long-standing engagement and research at specific Maya sites in Belize has led to significant partnerships with local communities as well as tourist and heritage organisations. At Lamanai, where Graham has worked for over 15 years, research enabled the Belize tourism authorities to develop the site, benefiting 212,800 visitors during 2008-2013. This partnership led to an invitation to work at the Marco Gonzalez site on Ambergris Caye, where research has facilitated the development of the site virtually from scratch and created a new recognition of Maya heritage on the caye.
Simon Goldhill's research on the history and archaeology of Jerusalem led to his being asked to join the EU-funded programme Promoting Understanding of Shared Heritage (PUSH). The aim of the project is to develop a new policy on sites of shared cultural heritage, in which capacity Goldhill has met regularly with — and been able to influence — Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian policy-makers. This influence is manifested in a rapprochement between groups who had previously been unable to meet; new signage at significant sites across Israel/Palestine and Jordan; and continuing interaction particularly on the crucial area of the management of natural resources.
Research for the UNESCO trans-national World Heritage nomination of the Silk Roads led to a radical new policy framework for undertaking serial nominations (thematic groups of sites across state boundaries). The `Silk Roads Thematic Study' transformed the attitudes of governments and heritage agencies in the region and had a major impact on conservation, management, interpretation and heritage tourism. This study was supported by a long-term site-specific project undertaken at the ancient city of Merv in Turkmenistan. By developing education strategies with local teachers and transforming national approaches to heritage (through conservation training, management planning, and interpretation) the `Ancient Merv Project' is now an exemplar of best practice throughout the Silk Roads World Heritage Project.